Govt officials: Post demonetisation, card transactions rose by only 7 percent, UPI saw highest jump

New Delhi: Transactions through debit and credit cards rose by merely seven percent post demonetisation, as against a surge of over 23 percent in overall digital transactions, top government officials told a parliamentary panel. Officials from various ministries gave a presentation to the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance on ‘Demonetisation and Transformation towards Digital Economy’. The digital transactions in all modes increased by 23 percent to 27.5 million in May 2017 from 22.4 million in November 2016, according to the presentation, a copy of which is with PTI. [caption id=“attachment_3191584” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. Reuters[/caption] The highest jump was witnessed in transactions through Unified Payments Interface (UPI), from one million per day in November 2016 to 30 million in May 2017. UPI is a system that powers multiple bank accounts into a single mobile application for seamless fund routing and merchant payments into one hood. Transactions through IMPS or Immediate Payment Service, which is an electronic fund transfer service, almost doubled to 2.2 million from 1.2 million during the period under purview, according to the data shared by government officials. The least rise in digital transactions was witnessed in the case of plastic cards, as the rise was only seven per cent — from 6.8 million in November 2016 to 7.3 million in May 2017. The Narendra Modi government had on 8 November, 2016 announced the demonetisation of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 bank notes in a bid to curtail black money. Following the move, the government pushed for digital transactions.